How cultural intelligence facilitates employee creativity: The roles of intercultural citizenship behavior and perceived disharmony

Employee creativity is widely recognized as a pivotal factor for organizational innovation. Despite the known benefits of cultural intelligence (CQ) in enhancing task performance in intercultural environments, little research has examined the relationship between individual CQ and creativity. Drawing from the interactionist perspective, where creativity arises from the dynamic interaction between individuals and their environments, this research explores how individual CQ dimensions (metacognitive and motivational) enhance creativity through social interactions and cultural environments in multinational corporations (MNCs). Using a sample of 116 employees from three multinational companies, this study examines the relationship among individual CQ, intercultural citizenship behavior (intercultural OCB), perceived intercultural disharmony, and creativity. A moderated mediation model was tested with the PROCESS SPSS macro analysis. Results show that the positive relationships between the two types of CQ, metacognitive and motivational CQ, and creativity are mediated by intercultural OCB. Furthermore, the mediated association between CQ and creativity is moderated by perceived disharmony within the organization. This research extends the study of organizational innovation by focusing on specific CQ through an interaction approach, which has not been fully explored. It enriches our understanding of how MNCs can leverage employee cultural differences to facilitate innovation.